Hazleton, Pa. – Residents of this small city about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia say they were shocked to hear that one of their neighbors has been charged with killing a 16-year-old Kearny girl.

Lauren Stich, 22, is a convenience store clerk who works around the corner from the residence of Cruz Martinez Jr., the 41-year-old Hazleton man accused of fatally shooting Kearny girl Alishia Colon, 16, of Belgrove Drive.

Stich said she knew Martinez as a customer of the store. He even asked her out on a date once, she said.

Stich found out about the allegations against Martinez when she saw his photo in a local paper. Asked how she felt when she read the account of Alishia Colon’s homicide, she uttered an expletive.

“He was a nice guy,” she said.

A woman who answered the door at Martinez’s West 14th Street residence, a four-unit multi-family dwelling in northwest Hazleton, declined to comment.

Alishia was fatally shot inside her bedroom on Jan. 17. Martinez was arrested two days later in Hazleton, where police are accusing him of stealing a television set from the local Walmart.

Martinez must appear on the theft charges before he can be extradited to Hudson County, according to Judge M. Dixon, a district justice who presided this morning over a short hearing regarding the alleged theft.

Martinez -- jailed at a state prison in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. -- was scheduled to appear at the hearing, but his lawyer asked for a postponement until Feb. 13.

A man who lives in Martinez’s neighborhood said New Jersey and Hazleton police were on the block as recently as yesterday. The man, who asked not to be identified, said Martinez is one of the few residents of the neighborhood who has not lived there for decades.

“It’s a mess,” he said. “He seemed nice.”

Dixon said this morning that Martinez told him he was once a member of the Latin Kings gang, and he acknowledged prior arrests for robbery, aggravated assault and arson.

Jasmine Askew, 20, who lives about six blocks away from Martinez’s home, said the area is relatively safe, there she acknowledged there is gang activity. Askew was shocked to hear about the homicide charges against Martinez, but not about his alleged gang connection.

“It’s not really surprising to hear about someone in the Latin Kings, because there are Bloods here,” she said. “You know who to talk to and who not to talk to.”